Hellmouth High
by Twilight Warrior 627
Summary: In an alternate universe, a group of students at a small-town high school discover the supernatural world in the shadows of everyday life. In that same world, the darker side of humanity and reality threaten to overwhelm and conquer. They can stop this only by working together. But those who stare long enough into the abyss may eventually blink.


Disclaimer: Don't own a thing.

Author's note: So yes, another new story. Unlike my other stories, where the female lead follows like her canon counterpart, this time the story will be men and women working together equally. Also, the mythology will be changed up slightly because it seems the writers have gotten to the point of not remembering their own rules. And here's something that people have said to me, it does not matter whether or not the character is male or female just as long as they are strong in character. With that being said, there will be one consistent story element from the show but much will be changed. Also, there will be borrowed inspiration from other sources for this story. On that note, enjoy the story.

* * *

 _In the beginning, there was only one known as the Creator. He alone had always existed until He uttered one word and the spark of creation began. The Creator made the Heavens and created the Celestials, spiritual beings who helped serve as roles as part of creation, from His messengers, to the spirits made to help care for the earth._

 _Soon after, Mankind was made with one man and woman made in his image. But the most beautiful of the Celestials, Heylel, grew prideful. He had come to adore the affection bestowed upon him by his brethren until he laid eyes on the man and woman. He had desired to rule over them, and overthrow the Creator, for evil had grown in his heart. Rebellion broke out in the Heavens and soon the brightest Celestial and a third of the others had been cast down to earth._

 _Heylel's evil did not stop there. He had tempted the man and woman, leading them to be cast out of the paradise they had on earth, where they and their children were subject not only to Heylel's followers, but by their free will which led to evil growing in many humans' hearts._

 _As the number of humans grew, so too did the chances for Heylel to strike at mankind and take revenge on the Creator. Heylel tempted other Celestials to come to earth to seek women and mate with them. This did not go unnoticed by the Creator, as He had awakened many humans to see what was unseen by most humans. With this awakening came the arrival of the greatest war, with which the Creator had gifted mankind with various gifts from prophetic visions, super strength, and even healing, with the occasional resurrection of the dead. Still, in spite of the war with the fallen, humankind still proved to be troublesome among their own kind as wars between tribes and nations continued with some being enslaved. This was only one of man's troubles._

 _As the fallen mated with human women, many humans came to worship the fallen as if they were deities. The fallen Celestials had deceived many of mankind by appearing in their former glory, while others could see them for the horrid beasts they had become. However, the Creator had selected many to fight back against the forces of darkness in different ways, from physical to spiritual. Many of the fallen had been driven away or "killed" and buried in intradimensional prisons, as spiritual beings could not die by physical means. However, the fallen managed to maintain a foothold on earth, not just with their half-breed offspring but also with some of their worshipers._

 _One of the fallen had managed to forge a link with one of their worshipers. By spilling its blood and allowing its worshiper to consume it along with its essence. The blood created a spiritual link with the human, making him crave human blood, giving him strength and speed above human levels. However, with the power came a weakness. Sunlight could weaken the cursed creature after feeding, or destroy him when weak. So many had followed after the first blood-drinker's example, as they desired power. Soon after, the world had become filled with cursed humans who would become known as vampires. These were only the first cursed creatures to walk the earth and threaten humanity._

 _Not along after, a trio of shaman came together and tore one of the fallen's spirit from it's physical host and contained it, while kidnapping a young girl and forcing the spirit inside her. The shaman had used her to fight the fallen, but they were torn apart the second the fighting died down. The possessed girl wandered the earth until the Celestial, Micha'El, came to her to help free her from possession. Once fallen's spirit had departed, she lived peacefully and others continued to fight. The people who continued the war would form the collective council known as the Guardians._

 _After many battles and many events that either wiped out or drove away the half-breeds and cursed ones, the Creator had done something that no one expected. He had come to earth in flesh and sacrificed Himself and gave mankind freedom and salvation from Heylel's initial actions._

 _The war continues to rage on behind the scenes of the mundane world of humanity. Within the shadows of the material plane, battles are fought by the half-breeds and cursed ones left behind by the fallen ones. Men and women hand-picked by the Creator are led to battle. But even as the war goes on, there has been a rise in a number of humans granted tremendous gifts. Soon, the war will hit it's biggest climax._

* * *

In the suburban town of Sunnydale, California, a number of teenagers were tossing and turning in their sleep. Two boys, and one blonde girl and one brunette girl. Each saw visions of creatures and monsters, with the face of what appeared to be a handsome man smiling deviously, before he showed his teeth (more accurately fangs). Finally, the four teens each shot awake as their alarms blared out.

Inside the somewhat dilapidated home, a young man tried to stay as quiet as possible so as not to wake up his parents. He had gone into his bathroom and lifted his shirt and noticed the welts on his chest and abdomen.

' _Damn,_ ' he thought to himself. He hated waking up to these on many mornings. The young man trudged back to his room where he sat on his bed and stared at the ceiling.

"God. It's Xander Harris. Again. I don't know if you actually care to hear from me. Maybe it's because of my...my dad. Maybe I could turn into him one day. I know I've asked before but please...don't let me turn into him," the young man pleaded before his father shouted from downstairs. "Alex, get your ass downstairs and off to school! Maybe try to make something of yourself!"

Xander's head lowered in misery. As he passed by his parents, he felt a surge of emotion that nearly overwhelmed him. He nearly turned on his father but instead thought better and left the house. As he looked out at the morning light shining on the town, he put on a smile that he didn't feel and skateboarded towards the school.

Outside the front entrance of the school, another brunette young man eagerly made his way towards the inside of the school. He had just gotten to the doors when he felt something in the back of his mind. He turned around and saw a lovely blonde girl approaching. He knew that she had to be the new girl, with everyone knowing each other at school, and because he'd never seen her. He was ready to approach her until he saw two people he was always happy to see.

"Xander! Wills! John! Morning!" he said as they approached each other.

Xander, and the redhead girl Willow, exchanged pleasantries before Xander spoke up, "So Jesse, what's up with the new girl?"

"The blonde girl? She's a looker," he replied.

"Not the blonde, the brunette. What's the story with her?" Xander threw back. Jesse looked oddly at him as he hadn't heard anything about a brunette. But he figured they' learn more later.

Xander found himself in the library where he was sifting through a number of books that seemed to depict things he had never given much thought about. In one of the books, he had seen what appears to be a humanoid figure with giant chiropteran wings holding a sword, standing before what appeared to be a human. Inside the other books he picked up, he had found other books with similar depictions, which caused his mind to wonder about what exactly the new librarian was trying to hide that he had books with these particular details. It piqued his curiosity eve further when the one word that came up consistently was 'demon'.

Xander was ready to take the issue to the librarian when he heard three voices, one man and two girls, speaking lively with each other.

"So you're both aware of what it is you're capable of, yet you insist on squandering your gifts?" came the voice of an older man.

' _Mr. Giles?_ ' Xander thought to himself as he looked out into the open area of the library, where he saw the librarian, an English man, with a blonde and a brunette, clearly the new girls.

"Hey, I'm jazzed to get a chance to knock the bad guys down a few notches. Might wanna talk to B about her issues though," the brunette said with a slight smirk.

The blonde let out an exasperated breath before she turned over to the other girl. "Buffy. My name is Buffy. Remember that Faith."

Buffy turned back to Giles and said firmly, "And slaying isn't what I have an issue with. When I found out what I could do, when my mentor tried to help me only to die, when I had no one else because my only true friend was killed, I got sent to the nuthouse for trying to tell the truth. My life got turned upside-down, but it only got worse. I can't keep doing this!"

"It may not be as simple as you believe to just walk away. You two being here indicates the signs that I've been tracking for some time," Giles tried to reason.

' _Signs_ ' Xander thought.

"You're saying we were meant to come here?" Faith said.

Giles looked at the two girls, a little disturbed that they didn't see what was happening. "Not only were you two meant to be here, there are indications that there are others like yourselves that are awakening in this town."

"Others like us? That's a first," Faith threw in.

Giles jumped back in, "Indeed. Normally, those who were called to arms are sought by the Guardian Council, trained to fight and defend themselves and others, and at times help out others who are scattered to other parts of the country or globe. But with you two here, I've registered at least three others in this town as well."

"Five of us?! All in the same place?!" Buffy shouted. She couldn't believe it. She had heard that there were others. But with everything going on around the world, it would've been difficult to really connect with anyone.

"Yes. And it leads me to believe that something is going to happen. Only when this many are brought together does it mean that there is some sort of reckoning."

"This is swell and all, but we may have to continue this later. We gotta motor and head to class," Faith said before she turned and left the library. Buffy gave an apologetic look to Giles before she followed Faith's lead. The older man could only sigh as he couldn't believe that these girls weren't taking his warning to heart.

Xander, for his part, had heard enough and left the library. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Those three spoke as if they were going to go fighting, or some sort of war. Xander put the thought out of his head as he headed out into the courtyard. He met up with Jesse, Jonathan, and Willow before he became formally introduced to the new girls. It wasn't until Cordelia Chase, the most popular girl of the school, came by and kindly (for her anyway) informed Buffy that gym class was canceled thanks to the discovery of a young man's corpse in the locker room.

"You guys think this might not be a coincidence?" Xander asked.

"How can it be? Don't tell me you think our new friends could be part of some crazy conspiracy," Jesse said with a slight smirk.

Xander simply shook his head and smiled at his friend's comment. He wasn't sure what was going on. But he figured not worrying would save him plenty of trouble.

* * *

Later that night...

The Bronze, Sunnydale's only night club, was packed wall-to-wall. One particular patron was Jonathan Levinson, one of the smartest students, but also one who was a victim of bullies. He sat on one of the stools at the bar as the club rapidly filled with other students and patrons looking to blow off steam or enjoy the entertainment. However, Jonathan simply sipped on his drink as he had just had his own run-in with Cordelia and her sheep. He had seen at times how she didn't like having to put on that ridiculous front but even people like him could stand so much when she still clung onto her reputation.

He heard them laughing loudly and saw how they would turn to him and make fun of him when he was visited by a brunette beauty. "Hey cutie."

"Uh...uh," Jonathan stammered as he wasn't used to girls giving him that kind of attention. However, she pulled him by his hands, which he noticed she was stronger than most people, and brought him to the dance floor.

Her dancing had mesmerized him as he tried to keep up the pace. At the same time, he barely noticed that the other guys, including those with their own dates, watched them. He didn't give them much thought as he couldn't take his eyes off the girl in front of him.

"So what were you doing sitting by yourself?" she asked him.

Jonathan struggled for a second as this was only the second time that he talked with her. "Uh, well Faith...I just wasn't feeling too social."

Faith gave a slight smile before she replied, "You come out to a night club but you don't want to be social?"

"Okay, you got me. Xander and the others were supposed to meet me but they're late. And. I'm not exactly the guy that most people want to talk to."

"I know how you feel," Faith said as she lost her smile and slowed down her dancing. "I came from poor parents back in Boston. Mom was a drug addict and my dad is in the pen. In school, my classmates made fun of me and bullied me because I didn't always have money for food or didn't have the best clothes. My foster mom took me in last year and we moved out here this week."

Jonathan simply nodded his head. He could see in her eyes that while she tried to be tough, she was also very fragile on the inside. But right now, he could see that she was enjoying herself. As the song came to an end, Faith took Jonathan's hand and led him to a table.

Meanwhile, Buffy had arrived in the club and caught up with Willow. The two girls became fast friends and Buffy convinced her to seize the moment, which the redhead swiftly did by talking to a young man. After a few minutes, the redhead left with him. Unbeknownst to her Buffy was watching and immediately found Faith with Jonathan.

Xander was finally coming within distance of the nightclub when he saw Buffy, Faith, and Jonathan running out of the building.

"Buffy! Faith!" he called out to the girls.

"Xander! Have you seen Willow?" the blonde asked.

"No, I just got here. Why do you ask?"

"She left with a guy not too long ago," Faith supplied.

"Alright Wills! Scoring at the Bronze!" he replied with a smile.

"Come on Xan, this is serious!" Faith interjected.

"Because he might be a vampire? Wouldn't want to stake him now would you?" Xander emphasized.

"How the hell do you know that?" the brunette said as she grabbed and attempted to push Xander against a nearby wall. She was taken completely off guard when Xander had managed to shove her away with little to no effort at all. In her time spent fighting the minions of the darkness, she had struggled fighting particularly strong vampires. Yet somehow this guy shook her off like she was nothing.

"I know that you think vampires are real," he replied as he smoothed out his shirt.

Buffy got in front of her compatriot and looked sternly at Xander. "This is serious! Willow is in trouble or worse if we don't find her."

Xander looked to the two girls in front of him and became fearful. He didn't fully understand why, but he instinctively knew that for some reason, these girls were telling him the truth.

"I might have an idea."

* * *

Restfield Cemetery

Willow and Thomas walked through the graveyard. The redhead had been nervously babbling while the young man remained silent. He finally stopped at a mausoleum and turned to her to say, "Wanna see something cool?"

He grabbed Willow and threw her inside where she landed hard on the floor. It wasn't long before they were joined Jesse, who was also thrown in, and a blonde dressed in a school girl's uniform.

"Jesse!" the redhead shouted as she ran to her friend. The young man was holding his neck. The blonde seemed to have bitten him and managed to draw blood. However, Jesse tried to fight her off and noted how strong she was.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Jesse demanded.

"Please, just let us go!" Willow pleaded.

"No one goes anywhere," the blonde girl said. "Not until we've fed!"

At the end of her sentence, the blonde's teeth had changed, showing longer, more pronounced canines and her eyes were glowing blood red. Thomas took on a similar appearance. The two were ready to attack when Buffy's voice filled the chamber.

"Well, this seems cozy. What do you think Faith?" the blonde said. Everyone turned to the entrance to see a blonde girl, a brunette girl, and two brunette young man. The vampires looked at the three and began to growl and hiss at them as they sensed power.

"I think it's nice enough for a good little rumble. Ready B?" the brunette smirked. The girls got themselves into a fighting stance before the vampires rushed them.

The two girls fought fiercely as the vampires tried to claw at them. The other four took the opportunity to leave the mausoleum. Unfortunately, they didn't get very far as the minute got ten feet away, they were stopped by other vampires. The glow of the blood red eyes of the creatures caused them to fear for their lives. One of the vampires lunged for the group, only for Jesse to jump in front of them and hold his hands out. No one expected for a blast of white fire to shoot out from his hands and obliterate the vampires. Everyone looked on in astonishment before they decided to move away. However, before they got too far, Jesse and Jonathan turned and headed back to the mausoleum. Xander was ready to stop them but realized that he and Willow needed to get to safety.

Back inside the mausoleum, Buffy and faith were having trouble as a new vampire named Luke had entered into the fray and proved stronger than Darla as he knocked out Faith. The muscular looking vampire leaned down as if to feed from one of the girls when Jesse grabbed him and tossed him away. However, instead of simply throwing him back a few feet, he was cross across the interior of the building.

"Well...I wasn't expecting more of your kind to show up. It's been a while since I killed one of you. Now I can take out four at once," the man declared.

He charged at Jesse and took swings at him, which the teen deftly avoided. Jesse threw his own punch and managed to stagger the monster. Jonathan had a bit of a harder time as he struggled with Darla. He had finally given a good push when she was sent flying into a nearby wall. Unknown to either, he had managed to push her away by an invisible force of his will. The two vampires realized that they were in trouble and decided to make a break for it while the humans were recovering.

"Jonathan, are you alright?" Jesse asked.

The shorter teen looked at his buddy and classmate before he replied, "Yeah. But were those things?"

"Who knows. We need to make sure the girls are alright and get out of here," he said.

The two immediately checked on the girls and saw that they were alright. After discussing where to find Willow and Xander, they headed over tot he redhead's house. The remaining four were immediately greeted and welcomed into Willow's home when they knocked, as the Jewish girl's parents were thankfully away on business.

The six teens sat around in awkward silence until Xander finally broke the ice. "So was it me, or did those guys look like vampires?"

"No! No...those guys weren't vampires. They just needed uh...reconstructive dentistry?" Buffy tried to reassure. When everyone looked at her oddly, she followed up her statement, "That's what I said after I saw my first vampire."

"It's not like they're just shouting it out for the world to hear," Faith said.

"But why? Vampires here? It doesn't make any sense. It's a small town. Who would..." Willow began rapid speak. The new girls were amazed at the redhead's ability to fire off words in the time it would take to blink.

"Easy Willow. It's not reassuring but it's because Sunnydale is so small that probably would thrive here," Buffy said.

"Who can we even go to with this kind of thing? Any adults we go to would think we're crazy," Xander said.

"Giles. The librarian was telling us about how there's supernatural craziness going down here. We need to meet with him tomorrow," Buffy suggested. The group of six exchanged numbers to save in their cellphones until the next morning.

* * *

The next day arrived where the six teens gathered sent each other messages and decided to meet at the library around lunch. The six teens entered and met with the librarian and told them what had happened. Xander revealed that he was there listening when he found out who they were. Giles decided to inform all about what exactly was going and what they were in for.

"The world is much older anyone knows. The world did start as a paradise. But it quickly fell into disarray. There were beings of great power that were originally called Celestials, or angels as they're commonly known, servants of the Creator. There was one who grew proud and challenged the Creator with a third of his remaining siblings. When mankind came into the picture, the leader of the fallen celestials deceived them and the world plunged into chaos. Since then, the Creator has come to certain humans with certain tasks. There were those who sought to help guide humans to salvation, then were those like Buffy and Faith, who were called to fight."

"But where do these vampires come from?" Xander asked.

Giles pulled out one book that contained the information to answer the question before he continued, "The stories say that there were humans who worshipped the fallen servants like deities. There were even those who forged a link with the fallen by use of their blood."

"Their blood? How does that work?" Jonathan asked.

"By willfully giving themselves over to the fallen, and with bloodletting rituals that involved consumption by the human servant, the humans would be granted demonic power, but at a great cost. They kept their souls but the power became intoxicating. For there to be a new vampire, the human does not have to die. But the recipient has to be so inhumane as to accept the offer of becoming a monster. And vampires are only some of the creatures that servants of the Creator have encountered."

"There's more? Are you telling me that those movie monsters are real?" Jesse asked.

"Only vampires, and others like them. For example, werewolves in reality are not as we believe them to be. For one thing, they don't transform into the shape of a wolf. And unlike vampirism, the transformation requires that they feed in order to transform completely. And they don't need the full moon in order to do so."

"How is it that these guys have gone so long being unnoticed by the rest of the world?" Jesse threw in.

"Because a large portion of the world doesn't believe in monsters. There may be religious people, but that doesn't mean they're all faithful," Faith said as she thought about her mother and the string of suitors she knew when she was a little girl.

"Is there anything we can do now Mr. Giles?" Willow asked with a bit of hope in her voice. The others shared her sentiments but were unsure how to going about acting on it.

"For now, I suggest that you all go about your lives unless something comes up. And do not go recruiting others. It will be difficult maintaining discretion as it is," the librarian said. The teens agreed and exchanged numbers with the librarian as well in case they needed help.

Buffy and Faith had split up from the group, while the three boys and the redhead sat in the student lounge thinking over everything they learned.

"Hard to believe that just yesterday our biggest fears were fitting in and exams. Now we've got demons and monsters to deal with of all things," Jesse said.

"Not to mention being the only ones who know. Guys, we're carrying the world's biggest secret on our shoulders. Look around. Everyone else just acts like it's another day," Willow said.

"They seem like the lucky ones," Jonathan said.

"Are they?" Xander spoke up. "Sure they may not know what's out there but how lucky are they really? How many of our classmates over the years went missing because of vampires?"

Everyone took in his words and became somber for a second. As they continued to look around, they wondered about what all lurked in the dark. They thought life as teenagers was hard. But now, the world seemed bigger, and became darker.

* * *

Author's note: Something I decided to do, in case anyone missed it, was to move the timeline of the show forward to include more compact cellphones (be it smartphones or flip phones, yes some people still use those) as plot wise, it would help the group keep in touch more, though there are ways to get around that convenient plot device. Also, as for the origins of the universe, and lack of the 'one girl in all the world' and her not being possessed by a demon to have her powers, the basic idea is to take the weight of the world off of one person (it's a very tired and overwrought plot line) and actually have everyone work as a team, as well as to not work with the context that the shadow men forcing a demon into a girl was equal to rape (which Buffy herself despised) only for Buffy AND Willow to turn around and used the same method on hundreds, maybe thousands of girls and everyone in-universe and out-of-universe to be completely okay with it (because female-on-male rape or female-on-female rape is considered non-existent even though it happens). In other words, instead trying to make a female character live up to an expectation even she can't fill or make her a walking contradiction, I'm making it to where everyone can be regarded equally. Stick around for more.


End file.
